Monthly Archives: October 2018

On this day in history, October 24, 1821, New Jersey patriot Elias Boudinot dies. Boudinot would serve as President of the Continental Congress, director of the United States Mint and President of the American Bible Society.

Elias Boudinot was born in 1740 in Philadelphia. He attended college in Princeton at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton). He served as an apprentice with lawyer and future signer of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Stockton. Stockton married Boudinot’s older sister, Annis, while Boudinot married Stockton’s younger sister, Hannah. Elias started his own successful law practice in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and became involved in politics.

During the American Revolution, Boudinot served on New Jersey’s Committee of Safety and helped manage the activities of spies in the New York City area. George Washington asked Boudinot to become the Continental Army’s commissary general of prisoners in 1777, a position in which he had the responsibility of caring for British prisoners held by the Americans and for American prisoners held by the British.

In 1778, Boudinot was elected to Congress. From 1782-1783, he served as President of the Continental Congress, during which time he had the unique responsibility of signing the preliminary peace treaty with Britain in 1783. After the war, Boudinot was elected to the House of Representatives for the first 3 congresses of the new US government from New Jersey. Boudinot decided not to run again in 1794, but the following year, President Washington asked him to become the Director of the US Mint, a position he held until 1805.

Boudinot continued his successful law practice and was involved in numerous other civil duties. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the College of New Jersey for nearly 50 years. Boudinot was a devout Presbyterian and, in 1816, he was elected President of the American Bible Society. He also became an advocate for blacks and American Indians. One young Cherokee student whom Boudinot befriended took Boudinot’s name and became the publisher of the first newspaper in the Cherokee language. Boudinot passed away on October 24, 1821 at his home in Burlington, New Jersey.

On this day in history, October 23, 1777, a British fleet on the Delaware River is defeated by patriot defenders from Fort Mifflin and the Pennsylvania State Navy. Forts Mifflin and Mercer were built on the Delaware River just south of Philadelphia in order to prevent a British invasion of the city. Fort Mifflin sat on Mudd Island on the Pennsylvania side and Fort Mercer was at Red Bank, New Jersey, across the river.

The Pennsylvania State Navy and the Continental Navy provided ships to monitor the river, all under the command of Pennsylvania Commodore John Hazelwood. The navy constructed a series of formidable chevaux de frise in the river between the forts. These were a series of spikes placed under the water that could penetrate the hull of passing ships.

In the fall of 1777, British General William Howe set about capturing Philadelphia. Partly due to the defenses on the Delaware, Clinton landed a massive army of 17,000 soldiers at Head of Elk, Maryland, on the north end of the Chesapeake Bay, instead. The troops marched overland to Philadelphia, undeterred by the Continental Army at the Battle of Brandywine, and took the city on September 26.

Forts Mifflin and Mercer still had their value though. The main way of supplying Philadelphia was by the Delaware River and this still lay in the control of the Americans. Any ships trying to sail up the river would be caught in the cannon fire between the two forts. General Howe knew he had to get control of the river or he would have a hard time feeding and supplying his troops. George Washington knew this as well, so he hoped to maintain control of the forts in order to force Howe to abandon the city.

On October 22, a Hessian regiment of 1200 soldiers attacked Fort Mercer. Colonel Carl von Donop led the failed attempt, which saw a fourth of his troops killed or wounded. The following day, on October 23rd, a small fleet of British ships tried to navigate the chevaux de frise and get past the forts. The fleet was led by the 64 gun HMS Augusta. Cannon fire from Fort Mifflin rained down on the ships.

Both the Augusta and the 20 gun HMS Merlin took direct hits and may have been damaged by the chevaux de frise as well. Both ships ran aground. The Augusta caught fire from the cannonade and the ship's magazine was breached. The explosion killed over 60 crewmen. The sailors on board the Merlin set fire to the ship and abandoned her in order to prevent her being salvaged by the rebels. The mission was a failure.

The victories of the 22nd and 23rd were a great encouragement to the Americans, but General Howe became determined that he must take the river. A massive five day artillery bombardment of Fort Mifflin commenced on November 10, aided by ships from the river. The fort was abandoned in the night on November 15. In addition, 5,000 men were landed on the New Jersey side to deal with Fort Mercer. This fort was abandoned on November 20 as the British troops approached.

Forts Mifflin and Mercer eventually fell, but their brave actions helped delay General Howe from his primary mission of decimating the main body of the Continental Army north of Philadelphia for more than a month. The delay forced Howe to wait through the winter for a more opportune moment in the spring.

George Washington camped at Valley Forge during the winter, but by spring, Burgoyne had surrendered his army in New York, the French had joined the war, Howe resigned in disgrace and his replacement, General Henry Clinton, was ordered to abandon Philadelphia and return to New York. The survival of the Continental Army was largely due to the brave souls who fought at Forts Mifflin and Mercer.

"We are either a United people, or we are not. If the former, let us, in all matters of general concern act as a nation, which have national objects to promote, and a national character to support. If we are not, let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it." —George Washington (1785)

On this day in history, October 22, 1746, Esther de Berdt Reed is born. She would lead the largest women’s group providing supplies for the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Esther was born in London to Dennis de Berdt, who was Massachusetts’ representative to the Crown in the 1760s. In 1763, young lawyer Joseph Reed came from Philadelphia to study in London and stayed with the De Berdt family. The two fell in love and became tentatively engaged, though her father was against the marriage because he knew Joseph planned to return to America.

Joseph did return to Philadelphia and the two corresponded for 5 years. In the meantime, Esther's father and Joseph's parents passed away and Joseph returned to London where the two were married in 1770. The couple and Esther’s mother then moved back to Philadelphia where Joseph had a successful law firm.

As the American Revolution broke out, Joseph and Esther were solidly on the patriot side, despite Esther’s birth in London. In 1775, Reed was elected to Congress and George Washington personally asked him to leave his law firm to be his personal aide when Washington took over the Continental Army at Boston in 1775. Reed served in the army for several years and in 1778 he became Governor of Pennsylvania.

Esther was forced to raise her children alone during Reed’s long absences and even took them out of the city several times to escape the British. George Washington was constantly begging Congress for more supplies, ammunition and clothing for the soldiers at this time. When Joseph became governor, Esther took advantage of her position to do something about the needs of the soldiers. She wrote an article in the newspaper explaining that women could be just as patriotic as men and detailed a plan for women to raise money that would be given to the soldiers to help them with their personal expenses.

Women around Philadelphia and Pennsylvania began sending their money in and more than 300,000 Continental dollars were raised. Esther wrote to Washington of her plan to distribute the money to every soldier. Washington wrote her back with his thanks, but suggested the money would be better used for clothing, which was in short supply. He was also concerned that many of the soldiers would use the money to buy alcohol, but he left the final decision to Esther.

Esther took Washington’s advice and she purchased tons of fabric and made over 2,000 shirts for the soldiers. Tragically, Esther became ill and died in September of 1780 and never saw the full fruits of her efforts. After her death, Sarah Franklin Bache, the daughter of Benjamin Franklin, took over the leadership of the organization. Women’s groups formed in several other colonies and followed Esther’s example, but Esther’s organization was the largest and most productive. Her accomplishments were unique for a woman in the colonial era and proved that women could be just as patriotic, self-sacrificing and politically minded as men.

"If a juror accepts as the law that which the judge states, then the juror has accepted the exercise of absolute authority of a government employee and has surrendered a power and right that once was the citizen's safeguard of liberty."Theophilus Parsons

On this day in history, October 21, 1797, the USS Constitution is launched in Boston Harbor. The Constitution is the world’s oldest commissioned naval ship still sailing. It was one of six ships built by the US Congress in 1797 to deal with the Barbary pirates of North Africa.

After the close of the American Revolution, the Continental Navy was shut down. In the 1790s, increasing pirate activity of the North African states of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya, threatened American shipping in the Mediterranean, leading Congress to create a small navy to deal with the pirates.

George Washington named the USS Constitution, which was launched on October 21, 1797. The ships were larger and stronger than typical naval ships of the era because the United States could not afford to build a very large fleet. Instead, Congress decided to make a few ships and make them extremely powerful.

The Constitution served in the Quasi-War against France in the late 1790s, capturing French ships in the Americas and the West Indies. During the First Barbary War, the Constitution served as the flagship of Captain Edward Preble, who forced the Barbary states into submission. These battles are the subject of the line, "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli," in the United States Marine Corps hymn.

The Constitution earned its reputation mostly from the War of 1812, during which she made numerous captures of British ships. The Constitution successfully outran 5 British ships in July of 1812. She captured and destroyed HMS Guerriere in August of that year in Nova Scotia. This battle was the source of the Constitution’s nickname, "Old Ironsides," when British cannonballs were seen to bounce off her sides. The Constitution was involved in the last fighting between British and American subjects during a battle with HMS Cyane and HMS Levant on February 20, 1815, a battle which the Constitution won.

After the War of 1812, the Constitution served for years on patrol missions and diplomatic missions in places as far as Africa, Brazil and the Mediterranean. She received such dignitaries as Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, King Ferdinand II of Italy and Pope Pius IX. After significant renovations, the Constitution was recommissioned and sailed around the world in the 1840s, docking in such places as Madagascar, Zanzibar, Singapore, Vietnam, China and Hawaii. As the ship aged and became less seaworthy, she spent years as a training vessel, a classroom and even a dormitory, in such places as Annapolis, Philadelphia and Norfolk.

In 1931, restoration efforts to make the Constitution seaworthy culminated in a 90 city tour of American ports. The Constitution traveled all the way from Bar Harbor, Maine, through the Panama Canal and north to Bellingham, Washington, though not under her own power. Instead, the ship was towed. After the tour, the Constitution sat in Boston Harbor, serving as a museum, a brig for those awaiting court-martial and a training vessel.

After more extensive restoration, the Constitution set sail under her own power in 1997, her first sailing under her own power in 116 years. The USS Constitution still sets in Boston Harbor today, serving as a museum and educational facility to teach about the US Navy. It is manned by 60 officers and sailors who are active duty United States Navy personnel and is open year round for tours.

On this day in history, October 20, 1777, Robert Howe is promoted to major general of the Continental Army. Howe was one of only five North Carolinians to serve as generals in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the only one to attain this high rank.

Howe was born into an extremely wealthy North Carolina family. He served as a militia captain, in several county offices and as a representative to the colonial assembly in the 1750s and 60s. He was instrumental in founding the Wilmington Sons of Liberty during the Stamp Act Crisis, but was also a close friend of the Royal Governor, William Tryon.

During the late 1760s War of the Regulation, a war between back country North Carolinians and the Royal government over taxation, Howe served alongside Tryon, even serving as an artillery commander and quartermaster general in the Battle of Alamance, which ended the rebellion. Due to his friendship with Tryon, Howe was made commander of Fort Johnson on the Cape Fear River. Tryon’s successor, Josiah Martin, however, disliked Howe and demoted him. The two had continuous disagreements, which encouraged Howe to join the patriots as the rebellion against Great Britain grew.

Howe participated on North Carolina’s Committee of Correspondence, Committee of Safety and in several of its early rebel congresses. He helped raise food supplies to send to Boston after the Boston Port Act shut its harbor. Howe led an attempt to kidnap Governor Martin in 1775 that led to Martin’s fleeing the colony.

In September 1775, Howe was appointed colonel of the new Second North Carolina Regiment, which he took to Virginia to fight against Lord Dunmore at Norfolk. In 1776, he was promoted to brigadier general of the Continental Army and sent to South Carolina. He commanded the South Carolina militia during the first Siege of Charleston and eventually assumed command of the entire Southern Department.

On October 20, 1777, Howe was promoted to major general, but he was in continual conflict with the civilian leaders of South Carolina and Georgia. Several missions failed due to militia leaders refusing to follow Howe’s orders, with Howe often receiving the blame. The fault usually, however, belonged to the state leadership. One such disagreement even led to a duel between Howe and South Carolina patriot leader Christopher Gadsden, a duel both survived.

After a rumor of infidelity surfaced, Howe was replaced as commander in the south by General Benjamin Lincoln. Before Lincoln’s arrival, Howe was present when the British captured Savannah and 500 patriots were killed or captured, another loss blamed on Howe. When Lincoln arrived, George Washington had Howe sent to the north where he commanded a spy network in the Hudson Valley and chaired a court-martial of Benedict Arnold’s alleged mercantile crimes in Philadelphia. Howe commanded West Point for a time and served on the committee that found British Major John Andre guilty of spying and sentenced him to hanging. Toward the end of the war, Howe helped put down several mutinies in the Continental Army over lack of pay.

After the war, Howe returned home to North Carolina. He was appointed to serve on several committees to establish peace with western Indian tribes. He was also appointed to serve in the North Carolina House of Commons. During a trip to the House of Commons in 1786, Howe became ill and passed away. He was buried on land he owned in what is today Columbus County, but the exact location of his grave has never been found.

On this day in history, October 19, 1781, British General Charles Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown. The Battle of Yorktown was the last major battle of the American Revolution. Although fighting did continue in various areas, peace negotiations began the following spring and eventually brought the war to an end.

The British had successfully conquered Georgia and South Carolina in 1779 and 1780. When General Cornwallis invaded North Carolina, however, things didn’t go so well. In the spring of 1781, Cornwallis was forced to the coast for resupplying and regrouping. He marched to Virginia instead, thinking it would be easier to conquer than North Carolina had proved to be.

After arriving in Virginia, Cornwallis received orders from his superior, General Henry Clinton, in New York, to make a deep water port on the Chesapeake, where supplies and reinforcements from New York could be landed. Cornwallis marched to Yorktown in the summer of 1781 and began reinforcements.

George Washington, meanwhile, left New York with French General, the Comte de Rochambeau, with 7,000 soldiers. They met with the Marquis de Lafayette and his army in Virginia, while French Admiral, the Comte de Grasse, fought off a British fleet bringing reinforcements to Cornwallis and landed thousands more French soldiers. In all, 17,000 French and American troops surrounded Yorktown.

The allies began bombarding Yorktown after digging a siege trench. For days, bombs rained down on Cornwallis who began running out of food and ammunition. After nearly two weeks of resisting, Cornwallis knew reinforcements from New York would not arrive in time and he reluctantly sent out a drummer with a white flag on October 17.

Negotiations were held over the next two days at the home of Augustine Moore, which is still standing. On the 19th, the official surrender ceremony was held. The American and French soldiers marched into town and the British soldiers marched between the two allies and laid down their arms. British drummers and fifers played a popular British song called "The World Turned Upside Down," as the troops surrendered.

At the formal surrender ceremony, General Cornwallis refused to attend, feigning illness. He sent his second in command, General Charles O’Hara, to surrender his sword to George Washington instead. At the ceremony, O’Hara tried to give the sword to the French General, Rochambeau, but he refused it and directed him to General Washington. As O’Hara was Cornwallis’ second, Washington refused to honor this breach of protocol and he directed O’Hara to surrender the sword to his own second, General Benjamin Lincoln.

The surrender at Yorktown finally convinced Parliament that war with the colonists was futile. Peace negotiations began the following spring. Fighting did continue in the colonies and around the globe after the Battle of Yorktown, but the war finally came to an end when the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783.

On this day in history, October 18, 1775, the Burning of Falmouth, Massachusetts, takes place as part of a British campaign of retribution against coastal colonial towns for their support of the rebellion against Britain and their refusal to do business with the British. Falmouth, Massachusetts, is now the city of Portland, Maine. (What is today Maine was then part of Massachusetts.)

After the American Revolution began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 18, the British army was surrounded by colonial militia in Boston. The troops in Boston were cut off from the land and their only means of supplies was by sea. British Vice-Admiral Samuel Graves dispatched ships up and down the coast to purchase supplies. Many communities, however, refused to do business with the British and even engaged in armed rebellion in several places.

The citizens of Falmouth captured Lieutenant Henry Mowat of the HMS Canceaux in May, but later let him go; the town of Machias, Massachusetts, captured the HMS Margaretta and killed its captain in June; and in August, the citizens of Gloucester, Massachusetts, engaged in battle with the HMS Falcon.

In response to all of these attacks, Admiral Graves authorized Lt. Mowat to make an expedition of retribution against the coastal towns. Mowat left Boston on October 6 aboard the HMS Canceaux along with four other ships. Mowat passed by Gloucester, thinking its buildings were placed too far apart for an effective naval bombardment. On October 16, he reached Falmouth, the same town which had captured him and held him hostage several months before.

Mowat sent a messenger into town on the 18th informing them that he would commence a bombardment of the city in two hours. The citizens attempted to negotiate and Mowat offered them amnesty if they would pledge their allegiance to King George. The citizens refused and began evacuating the town. The fleet began bombarding the town around 9:30 in the morning and did not stop until 6:00 that evening. When the bombardment stopped, Mowat sent a landing party into town to set fire to buildings that hadn’t been damaged. Several of this landing party were killed in battle with the residents of the town. More than 400 buildings were damaged or destroyed by fire in the battle.

Nearly 1,000 people in Falmouth were left homeless, but the citizens of Massachusetts sent aid in their distress. The Burning of Falmouth was received with revulsion and outrage in the rest of the colonies. Even Britain and France were shocked at the destruction of an entire town full of many innocent citizens by a supposedly "enlightened" modern nation.

The destruction of Falmouth helped encourage many colonists to come down firmly against Great Britain, even those who had previously been neutral or loyal to the Crown. Both Admiral Graves and Lt. Mowat suffered as a result of the destruction of Falmouth. Their actions were viewed as barbaric and unnecessarily brutal. Graves was dismissed from his position in December and Mowat was continuously overlooked for promotion. In the end, the burning of Falmouth had the opposite effect from what was intended, it only served to harden the colonists in their view that Britain’s government was full of tyrants. The only proper response was to resist.

"No country upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain these blessings than United America. Wondrously strange, then, and much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and to depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to so plainly." George Washington (1788)